The Lightning Tree
by Bluspark's Flight
Summary: Kierrah is a high-schooler in the Modern Day southern America. What will happen when she's temporarily flung back in time and into a different universe? Set in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (New York, 1926).
1. To the Ficticious Past

**A/N: Hi! Thanks for checking out The Lightning Tree! I just figured I'd warn y'all, it** _ **is**_ **just a** __ _ **little**_ **Mary-Sue-ish. Thanks again for reading, and don't be shy to review, it means the world!**

It had been a long day in ninth grade for the girl. She had always been one to prefer fantasy. She had finally seen Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, and loved it. However, while her 'friends' went on about Newt, bowtruckles, No-majes, and the newest ships, this girl sat alone.

That was where she usually sat. It was the same every day. _Morning. Stress. Get dressed. Eat. Stress. Car. Lecture from Dad. First period. Language Arts. Stress about undone math. Second period. Algebra 1/2. Stress about pop quizzes in Science. Third period. History. Take notes. Sore hands. Lunch. Alone at the end of the lunch table. Science. More notes. More sore hands. Mindless PE. Ride home. Lecture from Dad. Get home. Do homework until Dad yells for her to stop. Eat dinner. Repeat._

She sat alone at the lunch table, and she tuned out what the stuck-up cheerleaders were talking about. _Tune it out. Hold the stone mask. Keep the stone heart. Don't get hurt. Ignore the taunting glares. Think about something else._

 _Credence_. That boy had lived a life far worse than hers. Only to be slaughtered by those who should have protected him. What ignorance. What stupidity. What negligence on the part of both the wizarding **and** the no-maj law.

It made her blood boil. It made her want to tear through something with her knife. It made her want to fix it.

 _This is wrong. This is something I'd fix if I could. This is something someone needs to fix. I would do it, if I could. Oh, how I wish I could..._

Her thoughts fled at the sound of the lunch bell, and she packed away her untouched food.

Her father dropped her off at the house, but no one was home. She inwardly smirked, the emotional numbness of routine wearing off, thankful that she lived on a col-de-sac with woods at the end.

These she fled to, the familiar trunks and branches reaching like Pickett had for Newt's fingers.

She continued to run until she reached the Lightning Tree. It was shaped like an upside-down lightning bolt. She shrugged off her backpack, somehow keeping her purse on her shoulder, and climbed the tree.

Credence crept back into her thoughts. People from school had liked her even less when they found out he was one of her favorites. She did not regret it, though. If those that were her age were _**THIS**_ stuck up, she wanted no part of them. Not even their friendship.

That poor boy. _I wonder if he had ever seen Central Park. Or climbed a tree. Probably not, with that scary...with that Dementor of a woman._

She fell asleep in the Lightning Tree's firm embrace, and thoughts of Credence flooded her mind.

The girl woke somewhere entirely different. Well, she woke in an entirely different tree. The warm light of spring in the small town's sunlight woods had been traded for the cold light of an even colder, rather much more snowy, Central Park.

Looking down at herself, she wasn't dressed the same either. She wore a simple, long sleeve, ankle length collared dress and stockings. Black Mary Janes covered her feet, and a threadbare winter coat attempted to shelter her shoulders.

With a gripping of her elbows, she stormed away to the Subway system. Maybe someone there could explain. _A policeman, perhaps? Somebody had some 'splainin to do, all right!_

She found New York to be slightly more empty than usual, and far less technologically advanced. It reminded her of the New York that Credence would have known.

Once near the subway, there were people crowding around, and there were witches and wizards using some sort of protection spell. It looked similar to the one used at Hogwarts in The Deathly Hallows Part 2.

Somehow, she walked straight through.

Once inside the underground tunnels, she wandered about until she saw the aurors about to blast poor Credence.

Her ire at this rose. It bloomed. It sparked. But then the first spell was cast. With Credence's cry of agony, she yelled at the top of her lungs.

 __ _ **"**_ _ **STOP!**_ _ **"**_

She must have really been loud, because everything paused. Nobody moved. Then just as they were going to throw the next spell, she stepped in front of him.

"No." It came out as a whisper. A thought so loud, it caressed the ears of only the closest people.

While every person there watched, the thin frame of the fifteen-year-old girl padded over to where the Obscurus was.

"Hi, you must be Credence," she greeted congenially, "I'm Kierrah."

The darkness groaned.

"I wish I could say I understand all of what you are going through. I know that would be what you most need to hear."

The dark force seemed to dim just a bit, and she could see the boy's pain-wracked body glowing white inside.

"But the truth is, Credence, I only understand a tiny bit." She stepped a good bit closer. "I understand what it is to be alone. To want only a single friend, but to find none."

She heard protests from the various persons behind her, but she stepped directly in to the inky pain. Her body instantly weakened, but she bore it well.

"There is a lot to people that you haven't seen yet, Creed—May I call you Creed?—and I know that that terrible excuse for a woman showed you only the hatred a soul can harbor, but people can also hold love in their hearts." All of this was said as she made her way to the pained Credence, "It is okay to be afraid. It is okay to be hurt."

She was kneeling in front of him now.

"And Credence, it is okay to be angry."

He looked up at the soothing voice's source. A girl not much younger than him. She looked at him, with unfaltering warmth, and the pain that was this darkness dimmed a little. He saw that she was sharing the weight of this pain. This force he did not want to control. He feared it. He feared what it might do to him.

"I don't care what that woman said or thought...you are the strongest man of your age I've ever had the privilege of knowing."

She smiled warmly at him. Maybe he could trust her? She pulled him into an embrace, the warm gesture unexpected, and the recipient unaccustomed.

Then, scarcely more than a whisper, "I believe in you, Credence. And I know we just met, but I'm sure my home has room for another." She smiled, and he could feel the darkness leave. Where as the pain usually returned full force, Credence could not feel a single bit of it now. It was a freedom he had not felt in years.

She had a warm smile on her face, and tear tracts on her cheeks.

"So, what do ya say?" She questioned, still smiling her sunny, closed lip smile.

He could only manage a finite nod, before the Aurors came after him.

And, apparently, her. She pushed the slightly older boy behind her. She knew they wouldn't kill a no-maj. Too much risk of discovery. So she did something quite possibly very foolish.

"If you hurt him," She began, "I will expose you every place you ever go. You will not be able to hide from me. I will use any. means. necessary. and I will make your life a living pain."

They all seemed to rethink it then, all but one.

 _Obliviate._ The spell was silent, but it didn't matter. She pushed Credence out of the way, and landed side by side with him on the ground.

An idea took root and bloomed in her mind.

"Credence, hold my hand, please."

He looked at her strangely, before tentatively obliging. His hand was cold and heart breaking. Scars covered his entire palm, and many of his fingers. She gave it a gentle squeeze.

"I hope this works."

She thought of home, of school, of the Lightning Tree. But she had to ask before she took him.

"Creed, are you sure you want to come with me? You probably will not be able to return."

He hesitated and gave a shaky nod.

She continued thinking of home. But this time, she imagined Credence there, too. She imagined happy memories she hoped to craft. She turned her head and smiled brightly at him. The edge of his lip twitched into what she hoped was a reciprocation.

At that moment she irrevocably thought of him as a brother.

No sooner had that happened, then a warm, golden glow surrounded them, immediately followed by sleep.

 **Thud.** She fell from the tree. Finding the breath to be knocked from her lungs, she lay there for a moment.

That was when it all came racing back.

 _Credence!_

She shot up from the ground, and saw him sleeping peacefully in the tree. She smiled her warm, closed lipped smile, and quietly climbed the tree.

Seating herself in front of him on the branch, she gently touched his shoulder.


	2. Bunkbeds, Coffee, and Middle-Earth

A/N–Thoughts are written like this:

• **Credence's thoughts**

•Kierrah's thoughts

* * *

Seating herself in front of him on the branch, she gently touched his shoulder.

She didn't think she'd ever seen someone jump so violently and move so little at the same time before.

With wide eyes, Credence stared into hers.

"We made it," she grinned at him, "this is where I'm from, Creed!" she gestured to the woods around her.

There was a question in his eyes, one you deciphered quickly.

"Well, not here, exactly...this is just where I go to escape—"

His eyes grew wide for that second between her words.

 **Escape what?!**

"—homework, or to read." She finished, blushing.

There was a silence. It wasn't awkward, and they both used the time to soak in what had happened in the last few hours. Credence soaked in the warm, setting springtime sun. Kierrah considered what on EARTH she was going to tell her parents.

"Hi, Mom! I just fell into that movie We saw with Meg and her mom! I saved Credence! I know! I know! I'm glad too! Oh! By the way! I brought him home! Hope you don't mind!"

Nope. I guess I'll just wing it.

"So, wanna go to my house?" She hadn't expected any response.

"H—how did you know my name?"

She stopped.

"Back i—in New York. You knew my name."

"I'm not going to lie. This isn't going to be an easy explanation to accept."

He seemed confused. She began anyway.

"There are these things called movies. I'm not sure if they were a thing where you came from, but there is one about Newt, Tina, Queenie, and Jacob. You're in it, too. You are quite popular among the ladies here."

His eyes widened.

"In fact, it's safe to say that thousands—actually more like tens-of-thousands—of people know your name. But don't feel panicked. They know your name in a good way."

"And my—my mother can't follow me here..." The poor thing looked terrified for a moment. She wondered if he knew she was dead. She couldn't remember if he knew in the movie.

When realization and guilt simultaneously crossed his features, she knew he did. He looked down at her from his spot in the tree, seeming to half expect her to demand his belt right there. When all the thin girl did was smile sadly, he appeared puzzled.

"We can get some ice-cream if you like."

He didn't move.

I wonder if he's ever _had_ ice-cream before.

"We do need to get home soon, though, it'll be nearly dark soon..."

He didn't say anything as he silently climbed down the limbless, but short, trunk of the Lighting Tree.

Neither of them said a thing as they walked up the hill that held her house, but Credence stared wide-eyed at the 2001 white Camry in the driveway.

"It's a bit different here..." She smiled brightly. She seemed to do that more often around Credence.

When they finally made it to the door, she didn't bother knocking. Looking back at Credence (who seemed to be trying to look very much smaller than he was), she waved him in.

"Hey, Mom!" she began, "I brought a friend."

"What about your homework?"

She silently thanked her teachers for not assigning any that day.

"I didn't have any."

Her mom walked in. She was a tall woman, with blonde hair, blue eyes, and high checkbones. Her hair hung at her shoulders, curled and hair sprayed to 'perfection'. Kierrah had always preferred it straight 'n natural, but she insisted she wasn't pretty without the combination of that and her makeup. Everyone who'd ever seen it without it knew that this was nothing more than a fifty-two year old woman's insecurities acting up again.

"Mom, this is Credence."

"Hello, Credence, nice to meet you!" She flashed her perfect smile, and reached to shake his hand.

He flinched.

 _Darnit, Mary Lou, why the heck did you hurt this poor guy?!_ Kierrah angrily barrated in her head.

"He's a bit shy." Kierrah gave her a weak smile, but her mom was too smart for that.

Luckily she was also too smart to bring it up right then. Kierrah's weren't a particularly rich family, and her house only had two bedrooms with two baths. There was also a tiled kitchen with an attached living room.

"We were just wondering if he could, uh, stay a night or two...?"

Mom gave her look, but at a glance to his hands, and the scars they bore, she nodded.

"All right. I don't see any harm."

Kierrah couldn't help the smile on her face.

"Come on, Creed, follow me." She beamed.

She glided done the narrow hallway, and stopped in her small bedroom. She was glad they were bunk beds, and automatically took the top bunk. Credence just stood there stiffly.

Sitting Indian-style on her new spot, Kierrah watched him for a moment.

"You can come in and sit down, you know" her voice lightly explained.

He did, and collapsed on the bottom bunk. He didn't move until they were summoned for dinner.

A week later~

Kierrah's mom and dad had decided to let Credence stay. They were moving to a new house soon anyway, and that one had four bedrooms instead of two.

The day Credence had come home with her, her mom had taken an instant liking to him. Her heart had quite obviously broken at the sight of the many scars littering his palms, fingers, and wrists. He obviously didn't have any papers (Kierrah had told her mom that his family had been homeless for years and he'd been born on the streets, but was now orphaned), so he fell into the family quite seemlessly.

All of this, floating leisurely through Kierrah's mind as she was making a cup of coffee, had caused her not to notice the subject of her thoughts' entrance.

Credence had been familiarizing himself with the house. It wasn't much. Just a couple of bedrooms, a bathroom, and the kitchen and living room area.

This he walked into, and found Kierrah spinning and twirling her way from the cubbard, to the countertop, to the strange, cold cabinet, and back to the countertop again. Her wavy, dusty-gold hair breezing through the air, and bouncing behind her. She had a carefree expression on her face, and a lighthearted tune humming from behind her closed lips. He wondered if she knew he was there, and he thought he should move, but his legs wouldn't obey him.

A few words fled from her mouth...

"...dump the crocks in a boiling bowl, pound 'em up with a thumpin' pole, an' when your finished if any are whooooooole, send 'em down the hall to role..."

 **What a strange song.** He pondered.

She was now shoveling some white grains of _...salt?..._ into the blue mug below her, now pouring water from a freshly boiled kettle, now adding milk, and off to the cubbard again. From this she pulled another mug, this one a deeper blue, and repeated the process.

The tune faded, and she stopped moving and stared proudly at the identical steaming mugs. Her breath was slightly faster than usual, but after only a short moment it had calmed. She left the mugs on the counter and turned.

Gasping, Kierrah jolted with movement, having obviously not noticed him before. This was short lived, however, and she soon cracked a smile, with no evidence of the scare other than the hand on her heart.

" _Credence_." she breathed, laughing at herself. "Ya scared me."

He flinched, "I'm—I'm so—"

"You have _got_ to try this!" She exclaimed, not letting him finish. She handed him the steaming cup of caffeinated heaven.

Credence looked at her grinning face. She wasn't angry. She wasn't holding her empty hand out for his belt. She was happily holding a mug of steaming, light brown liquid towards _him._

He took it gingerly into his hands.

She soon held a similar cup in her own hands, and took a sip. He emulated her actions, and nearly dropped the cup. As the sweet liquid passed his lips, the taste exploded over his tongue.

 **So it was sugar!**

The thin girl watched as Credence's eyes widened in delight.

"I see you like coffee." She chuckled.

* * *

The Big Move had happened only two weeks after Credence arrived.

The new house was perfect.

Kierrah had made sure her room was next to Credence's. They'd lived there for just over seven months, and it had been great.

Kierrah had recently started reading The Fellowship of the Ring, and it was an amazing book. She read it out loud every day after she finished her homework. That was what she was doing now. Reading it out loud.

" 'All right, said Sam, laughing with the rest...' " she heard a light thud near the door.

 **Oh, no...**

Credence thought, as he leaned against the hallway wall.

He heard the distinct click of her knife's blade popping into place, and tensed.

Kierrah glided to the door with all the grace of a teenage girl, which meant she had figured out where all the squeaky floorboards were. She slowly opened the door to find a terrified-out-of-his-skin Credence shaking slightly. Instantly closing her knife and re-clipping it to her belt, she noted his position. He was sitting on the floor, knees in front of him, and head against the wall.

Was he listening to me read?

"Well howdy, stranger!" She beamed down at her newly adopted brother.

Speaking of, he didn't look so good.

"Are you all right?" Her tone and face suddenly became serious.

Credence, however was in another time entirely. A car had driven by on the outside of the house, and the reflected light from said car's windows had stolen him away to a certain underground tunnel with light being thrown at him, hurting him.

 **It would have ki—**

His thoughts were cut short by a warm hand on his cheek.

Kierrah hadn't seen him like this for a long time. He was shaking all over, silent tears ran down his cheeks, and his fists were clenched. She gently placed her hand on one of his cheeks, and started wiping away the crystalline tears.

"H—hey, it's ok, it's ok, you're ok, you're safe, nothing's going to hurt you, it's ok..." She continued the soothing stream of words and enveloped Credence in a hug, stroking his back with loose, lazy circles.

He didn't say anything. He never did when this happened. He didn't want to. He didn't need to. It was just the two of them, the older, dark haired boy in the younger, lighter headed girl's embrace.

After a few minutes, Kierrah spoke.

"So have you been enjoying the books?"

He tensed.

"It's all right, you know. I don't mind if you listen. I really don't. They're my favourite books, and I would love to share them with you. The first one was called The Hobbit, you know. I don't know if you were listening to that one as well, but it was phenomenal. I am currently reading the first book in The Lord of the Rings, and it's called The Fellowship of the Ring. I don't know about you, but it's turning out brilliantly..."

She continued the stream of mindless, lighthearted monologue. She knew it calmed him.

Credence listened to the stream of facts and opinions about the books he'd spent so much time listening to. Her voice calmed him, and she incorporated different voices into the story, the voices fluctuated, instantly bring the story to life. Listening to the story and watching the images his mind produced kept his mind in the present. Middle~Earth and Kierrah went hand-in-hand, and he was beginning to understand why. The saga was excellent, it stood for love, loyalty, and honour.

It stood for compassion, every-day kindness, and acceptance. It stood for standing up for what's good, and dealing with the consequences. Middle~Earth stood for the good in the world defeating the bad.

"You'll have to join me reading in my room, the book has pictures I think you'll enjoy, as well as words, and you're welcome any time..." Kierrah was saying.

He knew she meant every word. And as the pair sat there on the floor, for the first time in Credence's memory, his heart was full.

 **A/N-If there's enough of an appetite for it, I'm more than willing to continue Credence and Kierrah's story. Leave a review if you like, but even if you don't, thank you so much for reading!**


End file.
